part0020

“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally. This kind of attention nurtures greater awareness, clarity and acceptance of present-moment reality.”

Buddhism referenced the concept of mindfulness over 2500 years ago. The word “mindfulness” comes from the Pali language which was indigenous to the Indian subcontinent.

The word “mindfulness” is a combination of the Pali words “Sati” and “Sampajana.” These two words when put together translate to mean awareness, discernment, circumspection and retention.

Linguistic scholars that studied these terms defined mindfulness as remembering to have a caring and discerning moment-to-moment awareness of what is happening in ones immediate reality.

When the concept of mindfulness was first introduced to Western science it was thought that mindfulness, along with the meditation practices it encourages was connected to religious beliefs and therefore only attainable by a select group of people.

Several decades later these myths were dispelled and Western science came to understand mindfulness as an inbred aspect of human consciousness. That is, an inherent ability to be aware of the present moment.

The most common Western definition of mindfulness is by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, one of the main founders of the field of mindfulness. His definition of mindfulness is “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.”

Mindfulness can also be understood by contrasting the word with its opposite, mindlessness . Mindlessness is when awareness and attention is scattered and unfocused due to a preoccupation with worry, the past, or the future. Mindlessness causes limited attention and awareness to what’s going on in the present moment thus depleting ones power to live the present day to the fullest.

We live in a busy world. Men and women everywhere are up at the crack of dawn rushing through breakfast, chatting on the phone and answering emails .Families are stuck on a 24/7 merry-go-round of work, school, after school activities, appointments etc.

When the day finally winds down, most people zone out in front of the television for some much needed down time.

Yet days come and go and the rush of accomplishing an endless list of “to-do’s” often leaves people lacking a connection with the present moment – missing out on the special moments that lie within what they are doing.

Living on “automatic pilot” becomes the norm for most people. Sure they’re alive but they’re not really living each moment. It’s kind of like sleepwalking. They go through the motions but somehow seem absent from their own life.

On automatic pilot the brain becomes a plethora of thoughts that skip from one unfinished idea to another. Each thought rudely and obnoxiously interrupts another with a jumble of questions, answers, pondering and arguing all of which are overlapped with endless pictures, ideas, desires and memories.

Mindfulness is a way of reconnecting with life itself. It is a form of self-awareness that allows one to take a step back from the noise of the mind and observe the mental activity and the feelings it generates. By doing this it is possible to separate oneself from the influence of an overactive, ‘on automatic pilot’ mind.

Freedom from the chaos of mental activity

Freedom to live in the present moment

Freedom from judgment

Freedom from attachment

Mindfulness enables you to be an “observer” of your thoughts and feelings rather than a victim of them. The chaos of mental activity has no purpose other than to make you a prisoner of its perpetual circle of craziness.

When you learn to be mindful, you learn how to relax and act as a witness of your inner life. You become free from the negative effects of mental chaos and free from judging yourself, others and the world at large.

As you begin to master “observation,” you begin to live in the moment and not on autopilot. The more you do this, the more you come to experience relaxation, stillness and a sense of freedom.

Freedom to live in the present moment simply means that you apply the fullness of your conscious awareness to each moment. Freely experiencing each moment stops you from dividing your conscious awareness between today and yesterday as well as today and tomorrow.

Buddha himself said “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”

Being free from judgment simply means that you do not attach your opinions to the happenings of the present moment but rather act as an independent observer without disturbing them by your preferences and prejudices.

Opinions, preferences and prejudices are based on judgments using criteria from past experiences. They are thus stale and therefore cannot be applied to the freshness of the present moment.

When you are mindful, you consciously stay alert and attentive to each moment. Instead of judging things as “good” or “bad” you simply acknowledge and accept them without judgment. This enables you to be freed from reacting to the events and circumstances around you that are often beyond your control.

When you live on autopilot, your reactions, thoughts and feelings just happen to you without you having any say in the matter. When you are attentive and mindful of the present moment, you respond to things with acceptance and openness.

Mindfulness allows you to choose how you will react to events and experiences in your life. If you choose to judge an event, even though mindfulness teaches you not to judge, then your judgment of the event will only be useless and harmful to you.

For example, if your judgment of an event causes you to boil over with anger, then all you have done is boil over with anger. The fact that you’re angry is useless. It doesn’t change the situation and neither does it benefit the situation. All it does is cause you bodily harm because it creates stress.

Buddha said “You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.”

When you choose to remain free from judgment, you accept things as they are. You look at “what is” and accept it as such.

Living life free from judgment allows you to control your state of mind in every moment and in every situation.

It is easy to remain attached to old views and wrong perceptions that you’ve had for a long time. This type of narrow-mindedness forces negative, useless perceptions and opinions onto the events of the present moment.

Attachment is closely related to judgment because it is a personal opinion that you use to assess the happenings of the moment. In order to live in a state of mindfulness, it is important to let go of old views and wrong perceptions in order to remain an observer and one that accepts things as they are without opinion.

Mindfulness has unlimited benefits that cut across all spheres of life. The overall key benefits of mindfulness are:

It heightens your level of awareness

It enables you to fully experience the present moment

It allows you to distinguish between the real you and your thoughts

It eliminates stress by making you an observer of your thoughts rather than someone that is constantly entangled by them

It supports attitudes that promote a satisfying life

It enables you to become more connected and in harmony with your being, the nature of human beings and the nature of things

It allows you to develop self-acceptance which yields self-contentment and compassion

It enables you to be fully engaged in day to day activities

It helps you enjoy life as it happens

It gives you a greater ability to deal with adverse situations

It increases your concentration and focus

It enables you to see that life is dynamic and that things change. Hence thoughts and feelings come and go

It gives you the freedom to experience calmness and peacefulness despite whatever is going on around you

It creates more balance in your emotions and reactions thus enabling you to be free from the chaos of emotional spikes and outbursts

It increases your awareness of the habits you’ve created in your thoughts and feelings.

It enables you to see thoughts as thoughts and feelings as feelings. This prevents you from getting caught up in them

It makes it more likely that you will make wise choices rather than ones based on stressful thought patterns that are fueled by confusion.

It allows you to remain free from the worries of the future and the regrets of the past

It allows you to maintain successful relationships because you develop the skill of communicating your emotions in a calm, professional way